Fairy Falls to PGE Park to the Dublin Pub to the dirt in my backyard

Hello everyone!

I had a really fun weekend and I'm excited about daylight savings enabling more after work activities! I just love the long lingering daylight of summer!

I took Friday off work and left the house before 9 to drive into the gorge for a hike. I started at the Wahkeena Falls and hiked up to the bridge that passes in front of the upper plume of the falls. It was a beautiful warm and sunny day and I was thrilled to be outside enjoying it. The hike starts off with some serious elevation gain which is pretty much the way it goes anytime you hike in the Gorge. It was definitely worth my effort though. After many many many switchbacks the trail leveled off a bit and followed along Wahkeena Creek. It was a narrow little gorge with incredible amounts of moss and lovely little tumbling waterfalls. I came to Fairy Falls which is a charming little waterfall. It's only 20-30 feet high but she is lovely. From there I continued up to some great viewpoints looking across the Columbia River until I reached Multnomah Creek. This is the water that eventually will form Multnomah Falls, the monster waterfall in the area. The area behind the falls was truly amazing. The creek is pretty wide and studded with huge mossy logs and boulders. It was a spectacle. I was rather upset when my batteries died in my camera and my back up batteries were dead too. Then I realized with daylight savings it will be easy for me to drive the distance to Multnomah Falls from the college and hike up to those last few miles to take pictures. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it again. Oh so green and gorgeous!

It was very odd to come down from the solitude of my hike to Multnomah Falls, the largest tourist attraction in the state. There were lots of people and I was quick to buy new batteries, take just a few photos and get on the return trail back to my car. I drove to Elaine's house from there to get my photos off my camera.

In the evening I went back to Elaine's to meet up with her, Terry and Dave & Wampler. We all drove to the Lompoc in NW Portland for dinner and some beers. We then got dropped off near PGE Park where Elaine & Terry & I met up with Erin. Elaine had got tickets to see an exhibition game between the Seattle Mariners (major league) and the Portland Beavers (minor league). We bought overpriced beers ($6.25 for a 16 oz MGD!!!) and made our way to our seats. It was raining so we were very happy to find our seats were in a covered area and dry. The game was fun and it was cool to see Ichiro. Eventually the fine Portland mist turned into full-fledged rain and a rain delay was called. It poured and poured and many people left their soaking seats. We were happy and dry and continued to entertain ourselves until the game started up over an hour later. The game was a blowout of course with the Mariners winning 6-1. When the game got out we took the MAX (light rail) up to 82nd in NE and then took a bus back into our neighborhood. Go public transportation! Erin and Terry went home and Elaine & I met up with Dave & Wampler at Clifford's Bar. We had some drinks and talked and I harassed Dave heavily for not finishing the 4 credits he needs to earn his Bachelor's degree from PSU. DO IT!!!

We went back to Dave & Elaine's house and a bunch of Trout Lakers showed up that had come into town for the Mariner's game. I stayed much too late and went home happy for my own warm bed.

Saturday I woke up around 10 which is really late for me! I showered then drove over to Elaine's for breakfast. Elaine makes the best egg bakes....bacon, onion and whatever you feel like putting in. yummmmmm! In the afternoon a group of us walked 4 blocks to the Academy Theatre. It just opened up on Stark St (also 4 blocks from my house) and charges $3 for second run movies. It was nice and new inside and serves Flying Pie Pizza. They're in the process of getting their liquor license so they can serve beer too. Elaine, Jason, Wampler and I all watched Brokeback Mountain. It was sad and beautiful and I'm annoyed at myself for not reading the Annie Proulx short story before I saw the movie. We walked home and then I went back to my house for a lovely little nap.

I drove back over to Elaine's house in the evening to meet up with Jason, Tom and Hope, all of whom live on the side of Mt Adams. We went out to dinner at Pho Van, our favorite Vietnamese restaurant just a few blocks away. The food was delicious and spicy and enjoyed by all. We stopped at my house for just a moment and then headed out to the Dublin Pub where Dave Clarke was playing music with Wampler on accordion, Steve on mandolin and Eric on banjo. The opening band, terribly named...Rhythm Method were an okay bar jam band playing a bunch of covers. Their lead singer was atrocious though. There was lots of wincing and looks of horrors. It sounded like karaoke. ufff. They finally finished and Dave got set up. There were some technical problems with the sound. Once those were resolved it sounded great. The played tons of songs and we danced and drank beers and had a great time. During one of Dave's set breaks some friends invited me out to their limo. I thought they were kidding, or it was a metaphor for someone's Suburban or something. No, it was an actual white stretch limo that smelled like someone's basement. It was musty, it was weird, it was hilarious.

Back in the Dublin Pub the guys played music for quite a while longer and we had a great time. The place has tons of beers on tap (almost 60). I enjoyed the Mt Hood Ice Axe Ale which I last drank with Erika at the Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood one crazy hot July day. mmmmm. It was a great night! I always love to see Dave play music.

Sunday I woke up relatively early and worked in my garden (both flower and vegetable) for a long time. Some serious weeding was done. I also planted lots of seeds in the flower bed (nasturtiums, cosmos, sunflowers and California poppies). I can't wait for their bright green little heads to pop out of the soil. I showered and then watched a few episodes of Six Feet Under. I listened to music and read my book (just started Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell). Later I went over to Elaine's to get my photos of my camera and post them to flickr. I went home and made myself dinner, watched a Nature episode about baboons and listened to music and read.

Today is the first day of Spring term so it's a little nuts around here. 4:30 can't come fast enough. phew!

Please let me know how you are & what you're up to. I hope all is well!

xoxo,
carolyn